Taiwan experiences agricultural trade deficit

Taiwan registered an agricultural trade deficit of 4.53 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year, according to news reaching in Hong Kong from Taipei Sunday.

According to local statistics department, the deficit was caused mainly by a drastic drop in exports to Japan, the largest buyer of Taiwan's farm produce.

Data released by the department showed that, from January to September this year, Taiwan exported 2.51 billion U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products, down 4 percent from the same period last year, and its imports grew 0.7 percent to 7.03 billion U.S. dollars.

Although the trade deficit in the first nine months was up only 0.16 billion U.S. dollars over that in the same period of the previous year, exports to Japan fell 21.7 percent to a mere 0.72 billion U.S. dollars, the local statistics showed.

The department said that during the first three quarters, Taiwan's main agricultural exports were aquacultural and dairy products totaling 1.82 billion U.S. dollars.

The main agricultural imports included grains and tobacco valued at 4.17 billion U.S. dollars, and meat and other farm animal products amounting to 1.45 billion U.S. dollars. These major items accounted for 79.9 percent of Taiwan's total agricultural imports.

Source: Xinhua